A historic neighborhood in Neartown/Montrose, Houston, Texas

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Want to report a pothole, broken traffic signal, or graffiti while on the go? The Houston 311 app makes reporting issues like these easier than ever. The app uses GPS to identify your location and also allows you to snap a photo to add to your service request.

There are many benefits to these changes including better management of routes, budget savings in time and fuel as well as less confusion. Any questions? Check with Houston 3-1-1 by phone or on the site.

The following update was written and submitted by Ruth Adams, RPCA Board member after she attended Neartown Association meetings this Summer. Thank you for representing our neighborhood at these meetings, Ruth and for updating us!

Ruth Adams has attended both of the summer meetings for the Neartown Association. The meetings are held monthly at Cherryhurst Park Community Center. With over 60 civic and neighborhood associations represented, Neartown represents all of us as our “super association” improving the quality of life in Houston’s historic neighborhoods. At the monthly meetings the topics covered are those that are important to our collective safety, economics and advancement.

Several recent events discussed include:

• New developments underway in the Montrose area

• The recent closing of the Fiesta store at Dunlavy and Alabama. The store closed 7-15-12 but all employees were offered the opportunity to be re-employed at the other (13) store locations. A residential/retail development is slated to be built at this site

• Introduction to a new Parks Bayou program that is a movement to connecting all 7 bayous, renovation of parks and support of the short-term goal of passing an anticipated $150 million bond initiative in November.

Foremost on the agenda has been discussion and finalized support of a resolution that requests METRORail to begin construction on routes that were originally passed with the General Mobility Program. How the monies have been collected and spent has been divided differently between various cities within the county – pushing project details further out in to communities while not following through with decisions made that would improve our Neartown streets and rail preparation. Population density is heavy in our area and cars/people have a huge impact every day. Sue Lovell, past City Councilperson, is leading the charge to use the Rebuild Houston dollars as promised.

While this presentation to the Metro Board backs up decisions that have already been made, its primary purpose and support of this resolution gives backbone to requesting the progress that citizens within our area require and have expected. Neartown supports having the Board commit to take necessary action to move forward with projects in our area and not move improvements further outside of our area with our dollar.

Please watch for further information on this important November ballot referendum. It will be a good idea to review your voting choices ahead of time as sometimes wording can be difficult to get through. You want to make sure you understand what your “Yes” or “No” vote on this issue really means.

It’s that time of year again! Time for our Annual Spring Neighborhood Block Party and Spring Membership Drive! We will be hosting the block party thanks to the new and soon to be-previous owners of 1853 Lexington at the corner of Lexington and Hazard (South East corner). The party is from 6-8pm. It is a potluck. Please bring a dessert or side dish to share. We will provide burgers, hot dogs, fixins and some beer and wine. If you would like to bring extra wine/beer to share, please do. The more the merrier.

We are also still accepting items for the raffle basket. If you would like to contribute, please let Rebekah know by Sunday. Items we need: wine, gift certificates to local shops/restaurants, tickets to events, etc. elrebekah@gmail.com Membership dues support our presence in the neighborhood, beautification projects, safety, deed restriction enforcement, printing of fliers, parties and much more.

Many thanks to Liuda Flores for these "repurposed" signs!

Curbside recycling is scheduled to take place in our neighborhood every other Monday. Our pickup was missed a few times recently. However, we are working on that and trying to increase the participation in the neighborhood by reminding everyone when to put out their recycle bins. These reminder signs went out in the neighborhood over the weekend. Many thanks to Liuda Flores for getting the signs for us and painting them with the correct day. Thank you to the block captains for taking on this new responsibility to help us increase recycling in our neighborhood. Recycle bins must be put out by 7am on our recycle day. If you put your item out on time and your pick up is missed, please call 3-1-1 to report.

In other news, construction is nearly complete at 1850 Norfolk and the home will be opening for a grand event Wednesday evening. One of our local real estate agents asked that we let each of you know that there will be a party this Wednesday bringing a large number of people and cars to our neighborhood. So please be aware of this as our neighborhood is showcased this week.

Please review the following information from the City of Houston Planning department re: a new development proposal along Lexington between Greenbriar and Sandman/S. Shepherd. The proposal is to construct a seven story structure for an Audi dealership on the South side of Lexington and a storage parking structure on the North side. There is a planning commission meeting this Thursday that will include public comment.

If you’ve walked or driven through the neighborhood in recent days, you’ve probably noticed it. It’s mostly in the public right-of-way, on city property. It’s on some business signs and doors. It’s on the phone metal boxes owned by at& t, on polls, signs, walls, etc. I hesitate to say it is everywhere, but it is. It’s everywhere. Graffiti.

I can hardly stand it. I’ve called the city countless times. The first step, calling 3-1-1. The city says that in order to prevent graffiti, you must abate graffiti within 24-48 hours. Currently, that is not happening. And, when graffiti is removed, nearby graffiti is ignored.

We are working on a new plan to solve this issue. Please read the below article from the city’s website. And, let the board know if you have any ideas to help us rid Richwood Place of graffiti.

Note: I intentionally left out specifics about the graffiti from this post including the word that is being used most that begins with the letter “r.” I’ve also been in contact with the HPD gang task force asking for their help as well.

As you may recall, we have been working with the city for the last several months to get drainage added to the existing soccer field. As part of the recent updates to the park beginning in 2010, a new concrete walking path now encircles the entire soccer field. On one hand, we have not had to worry about the drainage issue this Summer, as we are in such need of rain, However, we are hopeful there will be rain soon and are still working to get this fixed.
Here is the update I received from the City of Houston this morning:
“We received the bids, we now have all the necessary documents from the successful bidder so we can create a contract. We are going to Council to award the contract in mid-October, after which we can issue the Notice to Proceed for the work to begin.

The drainage project was bid with other projects to insure the best price, and I have spoken to the Project Manager responsible for this to see if we can do the drainage project at Ervan Chew first.”